Reel time with Jonathan Melville: All I want for Xmas is the Muppets

JONATHAN MELVILLE

IF the TV ads have started then Christmas can’t be too far away (33 days to be precise), meaning seasonal films aren’t far behind.

Tomorrow sees the release of comedy sequel Nativity 2, the latest attempt by ex-Time Lord David Tennant to make a successful jump to the big screen.

He plays a small town teacher trying to help his class win A Song For Christmas, while his brother (also Tennant) tries to thwart him.

Then it all gets a bit quiet, new films-wise anyway. Just like Halloween, which saw vintage horror films (repeats) shown around the city rather than many quality new ones, Christmas 2012 sees cinemas looking to the past to draw in the festive crowd.

One of the films I look forward to every year is The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), perhaps the finest adaptations of the Dickens novel.

Never mind that many of the characters are played by puppets, this one has heart, humour and everyone’s favourite hog, Miss Piggy, alongside a perfectly cast Michael Caine as Scrooge.

It’ll be a few weeks before the Muppets are in town, around the same time as 1984’s Gremlins gets unleashed once again, in a new digital print.

This is another gem that never gets old, with Gizmo as much of a symbol of Christmas in my house as Santa and a new pairs of socks.

Of course, to really make Christmas complete, everyone reading this column should head to their local DVD emporium to buy Die Hard, the classic story of one man trying to reunite with his family over Yuletide, hindered only by a few international terrorists in a tower block and a few dozen rounds of ammunition.